The Time Lord's Daughter
by Remus Loves Tonks
Summary: Lucy's known her father's identity all her life, but now she wants to cash in on her birthright. Will two Time Lords in the TARDIS be one too many? Or will they manage to piece together a makeshift family unit?
1. Chapter 1

For as long as she could remember, Lucy Smith only saw her father once a year. There were a few rare occasions where that rule was broken, like the time she'd fallen out of a tree at age 7 and broken her arm. Or the time when she was 12 and got the lead in the school musical. Her mother had told her not to get her hopes up, that her father was very busy and probably just wouldn't have time. Lucy had nodded dutifully, as always, and tried to suppress the hope that he'd show up. And sure enough, just when she'd given up hope that'd he'd return, there he was on the last night, sitting in the front row, holding a bouquet of flowers and grinning at her like she was the most wonderful thing in the universe.

But other than those rare occasions, she saw her father on her birthday every year. She'd wait up until midnight, when an unearthly glow would light up her garden, a big blue Police box appearing out of thin air. She'd rush out the back door to see him, and he'd always greet her with the same words: _Hello, my lovely little girl. Happy Birthday_.

The same year Lucy turned 14, her mother, Michelle, started dating a man named Jason. For a long, long time, Lucy never saw Jason, as Michelle thought it best to keep her home life and her dating life separate until she could figure out for sure that they'd be intertwined.

Consequently, the first time Lucy was introduced to Jason was the night he and Michelle announced their engagement. Lucy was shell shocked. By this time, she'd been 15 for two months, and the wedding was scheduled for June, four months before her next birthday. Four months until she'd see her dad again.

And never had she wanted to see him more than right now.

Things were bad, very bad. Worse than Lucy Smith had ever seen them to be. Jason was…strange, to say the least. _Though perhaps perverted does him more justice_, Lily thought bitterly.

Oh, it'd never gotten physical, not yet anyways. But there were little things, little remarks, and little holes drilled into the walls of her bathroom that constantly had Lucy on edge.

And not to mention the fact that he was a bloody alcoholic, bordering on abusive to her mother. Yes, he'd waited til he'd been right where he wanted until he'd shown his true colors. And they were not pretty.

"Dad, where are you? I need you. Please, I need you to come back," Lucy sobbed. It was 2 a.m., and she had her bedroom door locked; it was the only time she felt truly safe. She never felt like anyone listened to her, everything was always her fault, it seemed.

Little did she know that at that present moment, the one person she needed to see was thinking along the same lines as she was.

The Doctor was wandering about the TARDIS restlessly, nostalgic for things he couldn't quite name. Though he often missed his daughter while he was out gallivanting around the universe, never had it been so acute, or insistent. He wanted to see her very, very badly right now.

Without waiting for another moment, he headed over to the center console of the TARDIS, pulling some levers and hitting some buttons until the ship launched into action.

"Wuzzgoinon?" muttered a half asleep Rose, still in blue pajamas with bright yellow ducks on them. The Doctor smirked at her attire, then answered.

"We're taking a little detour…going to see my daughter," he said softly.

"Daughter?" Rose gasped, more alert now. "I didn't know you had a daughter."

"Yes," he nodded gravely. "Half human, half Time Lord. Dunno how that's gonna work yet. She just turned fifteen. Her name's Lucy." He smiled wistfully, lost in thought.

Rose desperately wanted to ask how this fourteen year old blessed miracle child came to be, but she could see that the Doctor was having a moment, so she kept her mouth shut.

The TARDIS shuddered to a stop, and the Doctor grabbed his overcoat and flung the door open, then stood back, waiting. "Are you coming?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow.

"Well, can I get changed first?" she huffed. He chuckled and nodded his head, leaning back against the door frame. A minute later, Rose came back out, wearing jeans and a hoodie from earlier, her hair still a little tousled. The Doctor chuckled again, and led the way out of the TARDIS.

It looked to be early morning where they landed, in the garden of a quaint little suburban home. Rose followed the Doctor as he started to head around to the front door.

"No one's expecting me for another four months, so I figure I should knock before I just barge in there," he said jovially. Rose shook her head as he pressed the doorbell emphatically.

A young teenage girl with bleary eyes and very rumpled red hair answered the door, wearing pajamas that were oddly similar to Rose's. She stopped dead, her hazel eyes wide.

"Dad?" she whispered unbelievingly. He continued to grin at her, and she finally squealed and leapt on him. He laughed, and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Lucy? What's going on?" asked a female voice from inside the house. A forty-something, plump woman with the same red hair as Lily came up behind her. She was nearly identical to her daughter, but her eyes were tired and hollow looking, lacking the youthful luster of Lucy's.

"Oh!" She stopped short. "Doctor," she said, nodding almost curtly.

"Mum, Mum! Daddy's here, see?" enthused Lucy excitedly, showing off her younger side.

"Lucy, Michelle, this is Rose. Rose, this is my daughter, Lucy, and…her mother, Michelle," said the Doctor quickly. Michelle invited them all inside, though Rose noticed she did so in a reluctant fashion.

Rose and the Doctor followed behind Lucy and Michelle as they were led into a small, bright kitchen. They sat around the kitchen table, while Michelle continued making pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and Lucy chattered inanely about anything and everything, from her school projects to her friends. Rose noticed that the Doctor hung on her every word, reacting appropriately and perhaps a bit overenthusiastically, when the need arose. She only stopped talking when a tall, burly, unwashed looking man ambled in, unshaven and wearing a plaid robe, haphazardly tied around his protruding middle.

"Who's this then?" he grunted, stopping when he saw the two strangers seated at his table.

"It's my dad, and his friend Rose," snapped Lucy, her eyes narrowed in his direction. Her dad was peering at her curiously.

"I'm the Doctor, and as Lucy already mentioned, this is Rose. And, er, you are…?" said the Doctor, standing up and reaching over to shake the man's hand.

"I'm Jason, Michelle's fiancé," he growled, shaking the Doctor's hand briefly, but leering at Rose. "I didn't know Lucy had a father," he continued, his eyes flicking over to her, and back to Rose.

"What, did you think I just hatched?" replied Lucy scathingly, sneering at Jason. From the other side of the kitchen, Michelle sighed, and sensing danger, said, "Lucy, darling, run along and get ready for school."

With one last glare in Jason's direction, Lucy pushed past him and ran up the stairs to her bedroom, quickly pulling on her school uniform without really thinking about it.

She was brushing out her hair when the pain started. A blinding, white hot burst of pain exploded behind her eyes, and the hairbrush dropped to the floor. She moaned, cradling her head in her hands as images raced through her mind. Past, present, future, a thousand different possibilities. She felt sick, dreadful, but she was powerless to stop it as she whimpered, unaware of what she was even saying.

"Lucy? Lucy!" She heard voices shouting her name, footsteps thundering up the stairs. She felt someone's arms around her, supporting her, someone's hands feeling her head and face.

"Make it stop, please," she begged, sobbing. She was beyond the point of caring what they thought of her, what anyone thought of her anymore.

Finally it was over, as quickly as it had come upon her, it was gone. She lay on the floor, panting, crying.

"Again?" her mother whispered, agonized.

She nodded, tears pouring down her face. She realized it was her dad's arms around her, and she wondered briefly, hopefully, if he knew what was wrong with her. If maybe he knew how to fix her. Unable to bear it any longer, she felt the world go black, blissful sleep falling on her once more.

When she awoke, everything was hazy and lovely, just like it always was. It felt as if nothing would ever hurt her again, nothing at all.

The feeling passed, just as it always did.

She picked her throbbing head up off the pillows, and tried to better hear what the muttering in the hallway was all about. She couldn't hear anything properly though, and a minute later, everyone filed back into her room, led by her dad.

He rushed over, and sat down on the side of her bed, feeling her forehead.

"Your mum's been telling me you've been having problems like this for a while?" he asked gently.

Lucy glared around at everyone, mumbling something about privacy. Gratefully, her father understood, and asked that everyone else wait in the hallway.

"Lucy, what exactly happens to you?" he asked when they were alone again.

"I hear…things. In my head, voices. And I see things, images, of the past and the future, and everything else. What could be, what can't be. And it hurts, so much. Just this violent burst, and I see it for a few minutes, and then it stops. And usually I pass out afterwards, and then I wake up with a pounding headache," she paused, sniffling, "Am I going crazy?" she whispered tearfully.

"No, no, sweetheart, you're not," he reassured her, stroking her hair. "You know about the Time Lords, right? You know what I am—what we are—don't you?" he asked then.

She nodded, hiccupping slightly, and reached up to wipe away a tear from her cheek.

"Well…you, you're half and half, see what I mean? Half human, half Time Lord. Well…Time Lady? Something like that. Anyways, as far as I can tell, the Time Lord cells in your body are warring with the human cells in your body. They don't know what to make of each other, or how to coexist peacefully."

"So…how do we fix it?" asked Lucy, still teary.

"I…I don't know, love," her dad whispered. Even through her haze of pain and tears, she saw how much agony it caused him to admit this. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, daddy," she whispered, edging back into a fitful sleep. "I still love you."

"I love you too, darling," the Doctor whispered, agonized.

**A/N: So…I'm a little nervous to submit this, because I'm very new to the Who-niverse, and I don't know all the ins and outs of the story line the way I would, say, Harry Potter. But I love it just the same, and I had this idea, and I've got a vague idea of where the story's going (or at least the next couple chapters), so I'm gonna go ahead and post it anyways.**

**I hope you all like it, and please, please, let me know what I'm doing right, and wrong, especially in upcoming chapters. If you spot something that shouldn't be, some error in fact or whatevs, please let me know!**

**Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

The next day dawned bright and early, and saw Lucy feeling much better. She'd slept most of the day before, but now that she was alright again, she donned her dreary school attire and was eating breakfast in the kitchen with tired eyes when her dad and Rose came in.

"Dad, Dad, can you give me a ride to school in the TARDIS?" she asked excitedly.

He laughed. "Not on your life, kiddo," he said jovially, ruffling her hair. She pouted.

"Why not?" she whined.

"Do I really have to explain that to you?" he asked, arching his eyebrow sarcastically.

"No," mumbled Lucy, knowing she'd been defeated. Just then , Michelle burst into the kitchen looking anxious and harried.

"Lucy! Get going, you're gonna be late for school. Go on, then, go find Allison, would you?" she shrilled, rushing around the kitchen and front hall, finally handing Lucy her coat, school bag, and shoes, and nearly shoving her out the door. She yelled her goodbyes from the front step, and hurried down the drive, pulling on her coat and waving to a willowy blonde girl in a matching school uniform standing at the front gate.

"Is that Allison, then?" asked the Doctor, gesturing out the window.

"Yep, her best friend, lives two blocks down. They always walk to school together," muttered Michelle distractedly as she tried to get breakfast going for Jason.

The Doctor slowly wandered back up the stairs and into Lucy's bedroom absentmindedly. Looking around, it seemed entirely like any other fifteen year old girl's bedroom; there were piles of clothes on the floor, and the top of one of her dressers was entirely covered with lip glosses and perfume bottles and the like. There were picture frames on the desk and bedside table, along with various knick knacks and sweets wrappers. He picked up one of the picture frames that was right next to her bed and peered at it. There were two slots, and in the right one was a picture of the two of them when Lucy was only three or four; next to it was a picture of them from her last birthday party. Different faces, but the same man.

"Doctor?" He heard Michelle's voice calling from downstairs, and she sounded much less frantic than before. He supposed it had to do with the fact that Jason had finally left for work, and she could have a few moments of peace. "Can we talk?" she asked.

When Lucy got home from school, she found a note on the kitchen table. _Went to the store, dad came with, said he was bored. Be home soon, love mum._

Lucy smiled to herself almost evilly; with everyone out of the house, she would have the perfect opportunity to carry out phase one of the plan she'd come up with.

She raced up to her room and dug a duffel bag out of the back of her closet. She began filling it with clothes, and whatever few possessions she felt attached too. After taking one last sweep of the room, and ensuring she had everything she'd need, she crept quietly out the back door and headed over to where the TARDIS was parked.

Grinning from ear to ear with sheer ecstasy, she eased open the door of the Police box, thanking her lucky stars that the door was actually unlocked. She entered the console room and looked around, trying to suppress the awe she always felt when entering the TARDIS. This was no time for sentimentality; she had a mission.

Dutifully, she headed down one of the winding corridors, making turns at random and committing the path to memory. She finally happened upon a door that appeared hardly used; she eased it open and found it to be empty. There was another door on the adjacent wall, and she opened that to find an ordinary looking walk-in closet. She hid her duffel bag in the far corner of the closet, and closed the door. She left the room, and was just shutting the main door behind her when she heard an impatient throat-clearing.

She whirled around, guilt etched all over her face, as she scrambled to think up a good cover story for why she was skulking around the TARDIS unsupervised. Luckily, or at least a little, when she turned around, she was face to face with Rose, not her father.

"What are you doing in here?" demanded Rose, trying to hide the amusement in her voice.

"I was just…looking around and stuff. Y'know…no big deal," said Lucy, trying to sound blasé and unconcerned.

"Uh-huh. Sure. So…why were you in this room?" asked Rose, her eyebrows raised.

"Just curious, that's all. I saw a closed door and I opened it."

Rose, still staring at her unbelievingly, reached past Lucy and turned the handle to the room. Lucy's pulse quickened as Rose made her way towards the closet door and turned the knob. She spotted the poorly hidden duffel bag and stooped to pick it up.

"What's this, then?" asked Rose, knowing she'd won.

"That…that was here when I got here," squeaked Lucy, her cheeks flushed and her hands trembling.

"Oh, really?" asked Rose sarcastically, unzipping the bag and pulling out the photo frame that was on the top. She held it out, arching her eyebrow at Lucy expectantly.

"Alright, alright, I put it there! Are you happy?" exclaimed Lucy.

"Why?" asked Rose.

"Why do you think? I'm planning on becoming a little stowaway when you guys take off next," she snapped.

"You can't do that, your dad would never let you…" began Rose.

"I know, that's why I'm stowing away, instead of asking for a ride," said Lucy sardonically. "Look, Rose," she began, changing her tone. "please, please don't say anything to my dad. I have to come with you guys…I don't know what's going to happen if I don't. For one thing, my brain's on the fritz, doing all this weird Time Lord, spacey wacey stuff, and for another, there's…" she trailed off, not wanting to say any more.

"There's what?" asked Rose, gazing at her with an unreadable expression.

"There's Jason," she muttered ashamedly, looking down to the floor, her face red.

"You don't like him, do you?" asked Rose softly.

"No," laughed Lucy bitterly, "I very much do not like him."

"Does he ever…you know, do anything to you?" Now it was Rose's turn to look embarrassed.

"No, no, he just…makes me uncomfortable. For one thing, I found a little hole in the wall of my bathroom that I swear to you was not there before he showed up. And for another, he's drunk and obnoxious and rude, and a horrible person to my mother. I just…I hate him," finished Lucy dramatically. She looked up imploringly at Rose, whose heart melted.

"Alright, Luce, I won't say anything to your dad. It'll be our little secret," she said, smiling.

"Pinky promise?" asked Lucy, looking hopeful and happy.

"Pinky promise." Rose grinned down at the little red head, who, she could already tell, was so much like her father.

**A/N: Wow…I'm surprised to get another chapter done tonight. So, um, just so you know…I think this is gonna end up being around the middle or so of the second season. And I'm still working out a lot of kinks in the story line, still trying to figure out where I'm going with everything, so please bear with me. Thanks a lot, and please let me know what you think and if I'm doing anything wrong! Or if you have any suggestions in general! Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

That night, Lucy tossed and turned, never quite able to get comfortable. She couldn't get to sleep, too hot one minute, too cold the next. She was plagued with images of the past and future, fiery explosions and horrific visions of wars and sufferings.

She awoke for the third time in a cold sweat, dismayed to see that it was only one o'clock. Sighing, she ripped aside the covers and crawled out of bed, pulling on her dressing gown as she left her room. She was about to go down stairs to the kitchen to get a drink of water or something when she heard voices floating up from the dining room. She hesitated, not wanting to interrupt, but upon hearing her name mentioned, she crept down the stairs as quietly as she could, dodging the squeaky spots, and came to rest silently on the landing, hiding behind the wall to the dining room.

"…does that mean?" asked her mother's voice, sounding weary and frightened.

"I…don't really know yet…" admitted her father's voice hesitantly.

"I guess I don't quite understand what you're getting at, Doctor," said her mother tiredly.

"Well, because she is half human and half Time Lord, she's got both types of cells in her body," began her father. " And for some reason, all of the sudden, I dunno, blame…puberty or something, but anyways, the regular human cells in her body have stopped coexisting peacefully with the Time Lord cells, and they're treating them like a foreign object that needs obliterating, like they were a disease or something. And of course, the Time Lord cells aren't going down without a fight, so basically…there's a miniature war being fought in her body as we speak. Has she been getting sick a lot lately?"

Michelle must have nodded, because the Doctor went on.

"Yes, well, that'd be why. And those headaches she gets, those visions? That's her dormant Time Lord senses. She can see the past, present, and future, everything that could be and can't be at any given time or place in the world. Well, she gets random bursts of it, anyways. A normal Time Lord, well, they have that twenty four, seven. But their brains can handle it, see? They're running on full steam. Hers is still a human brain, even if it is a much more highly developed one. That's why she only gets the short bursts, and why it hurts so much and she usually passes out afterwards. Her mind simply can't handle all the information."

"But what's going to happen to her? Is she going to be alright?" demanded Lucy's mother. Lucy nearly held her breath, praying that the blood pounding in her ears wasn't audible to everyone else.

"Well…no," said the Doctor sadly.

"No?" shrieked Michelle. "What do you mean, no?"

"Well, the cells are going to keep fighting each other until they can't fight anymore, like all wars. But neither side is going to win; she'll die if that happens," he said in a monotone. Lucy felt tears pricking her eyes.

"Do you mean that my daughter…?" whispered Michelle.

"She's dying. I am so, so sorry," here her father's voice cracked, and he seemed unable to continue.

"You can do something about it, right? You can fix it?" demanded her mother. Lucy's breathing became shallow and panicky, and she bit down on her lip hard, both to keep from being discovered eavesdropping, and to be able to hear her father's answer.

"I…I'm working on it, Michelle," he answered, but his voice sounded drained and hollow. Lucy could tell he wasn't as confident as he let on, which was especially scary this time, seeing as how he didn't sound too confident in the first place.

Lucy didn't stick around to hear anything else; she didn't think her poor heart could handle it. All thoughts of a glass of water—and sleep, for that matter—evaporated, she turned and tiptoed back up the stairs, her thoughts a thousand miles away.

_Dying. Dead. _

The words kept echoing around in her head, chasing each other in morbid circles, and not allowing her a moment's peace. She was dying; actually dying.

Morbidly, she wondered how long she had left, and who would miss her when she was gone. She'd never been super popular at school, mostly due to how much she excelled in classes thanks to her Time Lord genes.

And now, thanks to them, she was dying.

She crawled back under the covers of her bed slowly. She was shaking uncontrollably, but it had nothing to do with being cold.

She was angry and scared; why wasn't her dad doing anything else to help her? He knew what was wrong, and he could fix everything, so why wasn't he fixing this?

A shadow fell across her doorframe, and she peered out of the corner of her eye to see her father entering her room. She quickly squeezed her eyes shut and tried to steady her breathing to appear as if she were sleeping. He brushed a few hairs away from her face, and Lucy heard him sigh deeply. He sounded exhausted, deeply weary, and she supposed that if she had 700-some years of guilt and bad luck pushing down on her, she'd be a little tired as well.

He stood up after a few minutes, and walked out of the room, glancing back one time. Lucy sighed and rolled over on her side to continue mulling over all she'd heard tonight.

When the first rays of the sun shone weakly through her window, the light touched on Lucy's stiff fingers and open eyes. She hadn't slept all night; in fact, she was beginning to doubt she'd ever sleep again. With a morbid chuckle, she supposed she wouldn't have too much longer to spend being tired.

She only wished that she hadn't obtained the dreadful information illegally, so to speak, so that she could discuss it and get some stuff off her chest. She supposed that all that would just have to wait.

Hopefully she wouldn't be waiting too long, she thought sadly.

**A/N: Dang, I'm on a roll! Three chapters in two days, I deserve some kind of award. Then again, I am avoiding doing my homework, so maybe not… Anyways, this chapter took a bit of a darker turn, but I think I like it. Please let me know what you think! And thank you so much to everyone who had reviewed/alerted/favorited. It makes me so happy—I love you all! **


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next few days, Lucy struggled to come to terms with the unsettling diagnosis that had been unceremoniously granted to her. Throughout all of her daily activities—brushing her hair, walking to school, doing her homework, eating lunch—she imagined she could feel the vicious genetic battle that was supposedly raging inside her.

One morning while brushing her teeth, she wondered if this was how people felt when they were diagnosed with cancer. She immediately felt guilty and horrible for likening her situation to that of a cancer patient and put the thought out of her mind as best she could.

The only good thing that seemed to come from her impending doom, she'd noted with grim satisfaction, was that her father was staying longer than he ever had before. She breached the subject the fourth evening at dinner.

"Don't you have some other alien race or planet to be saving?"

He scowled and said simply, "Eat your mashed potatoes."

"Alright, not in a chatty mood, I see," she muttered, listlessly spearing a forkful of potatoes. Then suddenly a realization hit her with all the force of a thunderbolt; she couldn't believe she'd overlooked it, it was so very obvious.

If she didn't get better soon, then Rose and her dad would never leave, thus not giving her a chance to escape with them on the TARDIS. Her shock and annoyance with herself must have shown on her face, because both Rose and the Doctor were giving her peculiar looks.

Their attention was diverted, however, by Michelle clearing her throat and clanking her fork on the side of her glass.

"There's something that Jason and I would like to announce to everyone," she said, smiling, as she stood and dragged a grumbling Jason to his feet.

Lucy's stomach quivered, and she began chewing on her lip; whatever they had to announce, it wasn't going to be good. They were already getting married, what more could they have to announce? Lucy could only hope that it wasn't—

"We're going to have a baby!" exclaimed Michelle, beaming.

That.

The air rushed out of Lucy's lungs as she exhaled much too quickly. "A baby?" she sputtered, finding it a bit difficult to breathe properly. "Oh, that's just great." Michelle's tentative smile faltered; Rose had noticed, however, that it hadn't quite reached her eyes anyways.

"Un-freaking-believable, it's just one thing after the other," she muttered under her breath. She had her arms crossed petulantly as she slumped in her chair, her lips pursed.

"Lucy…" said Michelle softly.

"No, no, I get it. The kid you've got is dying, so you'd better quick replace her! No, I understand completely!" hissed Lucy, losing all rational control over her emotions.

"Dying? What—," began Michelle, but Lucy cut her off.

"Oh, don't play coy with me, I heard your little conversation the other night." To her right, the Doctor stiffened, looking horrified. "Yeah, that's right, I guess I'm broken, damaged goods, not worth the effort, so you had to hurry up and repopulate. Is the baby going to have my room when I'm gone, hm? Make sure to paint it a nice pretty color, I'm sure it'll like that. And you're lucky, this time around, your kid will be normal, completely average and mediocre like anyone else, without any freakshow qualities about them. Maybe this one'll make it past sixteen!" she was hysterical now, half sobbing, half shouting as she turned around and pushed her chair out of the way, racing up the stairs to her room. They all winced when her bedroom door slammed so hard it cracked the doorframe.

"Well…that could have gone better," said Rose, trying for jovial. Michelle groaned and sank back into her chair.

"What…what _was_ that?" exclaimed the Doctor, looking shell shocked.

"Welcome to puberty," said Michelle with a bitter smile.

"Stupid brat, can't possibly stand to think there are other things in the world than her. She just had to upstage us right at this moment, get the attention back to herself somehow," muttered Jason angrily.

"Oi! Don't talk about my daughter like that!" countered the Doctor viciously, standing now. Rose put a hand on his arm, half calming and half restraining.

"Just calm down, everyone, there's no need to shout. We don't all have the excuse of being pubescent teenage Time Lord hybrids," said Rose wryly. "Lucy's been under a lot of stress lately, and I don't think she's been sleeping well. Now, what with overhearing all that, I'm sure she's scared and she's worried, and she's just lashing out. She probably feels like a cornered animal."

The Doctor, Michelle, and Jason were all staring at her somewhat incredulously.

"What? I can be observant when I want to," she said defensively.

"I should really go talk to her, I'm her father," said the Doctor, standing and straightening his tie. He headed upstairs, leaving Rose to offer the parents-to-be her awkward congratulations.

The Doctor knocked softly on the tightly shut door to Lucy's bedroom.

"Go away!" was her muffled reply. He listened for a minute, and his sensitive ears picked up the sound of her crying. He sighed deeply and tried the door handle; it was locked, of course. He shrugged easily and pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He held it up to the knob and listened to the gentle whirring, then the click of the lock. He swung the door open and was careful to shut it again after himself.

"Lucy."

"Go away!" she insisted again, not moving from her curled up position on the bed.

"Look, Lucy, I'm so sorry about everything. I really am. But we need to talk."

For a long time she said nothing, and he was about to give up hope that she would answer at all when she rolled over and gazed steadily at him. "You lied to me," was all she said, and even then it was devoid of emotion; hollow.

"I am so sorry, I am really, _really_ sorry. I was going to tell you, honestly, I just needed to figure out how first. And I'd hoped that I'd have a bit better news to tell you when I did. I'm sorry," the Doctor said imploringly.

"It's alright," said Lucy after a moment of contemplative silence. "It's not really you I'm mad at anyways. It's _them_." She spat the last word with such venom that her dad started.

"You really don't like him, do you?" he asked.

"I hate him," she said, her voice monotonous and dark. "He's wretched. He's drunk, obnoxious, unintelligent, uneducated, rude, boorish…I could probably find some more synonyms if I looked for them."

Even though she was dead serious, the Doctor couldn't help but chuckle at her expression.

"I am sorry," he said, suppressing his laughter.

"And now they're going to have a baby," she said miserably. She sighed deeply, and shook her head. "Oh well, plenty of other people have had it much worse than me. I'll manage."

The Doctor smiled sadly; she was so very much like him, it was startling. So willing to bear her crosses if it made even one other person's life that much easier.

"Have I ever told you that you're too much like me?" he asked.

"Maybe once or twice. But I can't help but notice that you say so proudly," she said, grinning.

Laughing, he said, "You've got that right, kiddo." Her smiled faded after a minute.

"I'm not really going to die, am I? You're going to be able to fix this…right?"

"Lucy, I promise you, I'll go to the ends of the earth—literally, if I have to—to make sure you'll be okay," he said solemnly, looking her directly in the eyes. She nodded once, and tried to smile again. She then said something that would haunt him for much too long:

"You wouldn't be the Doctor if you didn't."

**A/N: Ah, teenage hormones. They're not pretty. I think this might be my longest chapter so far (I think—don't quote me on that), so yay for me. Though I still haven't done my homework. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. Thank you so much for everyone that's been paying attention to my story. It makes me very, very happy. I'm still kinda running blind here, but plot-type-things are starting to form in my head, so that's good. Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

Late that night, while everyone else in her house was soundly sleeping, Lucy took advantage of her newfound insomnia to formulate a plan. She'd identified the problem and now she knew what she had to do: If she was ever going to get her dad to leave, she was going to need to pretend she was perfectly fine. She wasn't stupid; she knew that she'd never convince him that she was cured, especially because he had ways of knowing otherwise, but she might just be able to convince him that she was well enough for him to go on a little jaunt or two.

The next problem was what to do after he inevitably found out she'd stowed away. Convincing him to let her stay was going to be a Herculean feat in and of itself; she was sure it would involve lots of whining, shouting, crying, begging, and maybe even a little blackmail. But she'd start with the first plan, and cross the other bridge when she got there.

Over the next few days, she began to employ her new plan. She hid all signs of fatigue (she'd only been able to catch a couple hours' sleep any given night), and somehow managed to keep quiet whenever she had another attack like the first day. She was lucky that none of them ever happened in a public-type place. On day eleven, when she began to cough up blood, she hid that as well.

She began to worry that she'd be dead before he'd ever leave, and it would be thanks to her own stupidity. But then on day seventeen, she got her chance.

She overheard her dad saying that they'd gotten a tip from a friend of Rose's about something fishy at a comprehensive school, and they were going to go have a look. Pleased beyond belief, she snuck back into her room, figuring her mother would think she was still sleeping; it was early enough in the morning for that to be a possibility.

She ran to her bedroom window, and opened it as quietly as possible. She removed the screen and clambered out of the windowsill and onto the roof below. She shimmied down a decorative trellis, dodging the broken spots, and jumped to the ground with a soft _thump_.

She crept around the side of the house, and peering through the kitchen window, she saw that Rose and her dad were still in the dining room. Rose turned ever so slightly, looked Lucy right in the eye, and winked, then darted her eyes quickly in the direction of the TARDIS in a gesture saying "hurry up!" Lucy grinned and flat out ran to the TARDIS, quickly flitting inside the door and closing it quietly.

Panicking slightly, she raced down a corridor, desperately trying to remember the direction to the empty room she'd found. Stopping suddenly, she smacked herself in the face as she realized there was no need to spaz out. Breathing heavily, she sent out a thoughtwave to the TARDIS and immediately received directions to the room.

"Thanks for siding with me, old girl," she whispered, hurriedly following her instructions. She found the room, and in the nick of time. As she was scrunching up into her hiding place in the closet, she heard the doors open, and her dad's and Rose's voices filling the control room.

"…shame that Lucy was sleeping…but I'm sure we'll be back before she knows it, and besides, she needs her rest," said her father's disembodied voice. Rose made a murmur of assent, and Lucy could practically see her nodding her head absentmindedly as she watched the Doctor hit controls on the TARDIS console.

"Something's not right," he said suddenly. Lucy held her breath, her heart pounding.

"What?" asked Rose sharply.

"There's another presence onboard the TARDIS."

"Oh, no, no, I'm sure it's fine. I mean, those sensors can be broken, right? It's probably just broken…" Rose's voice sounded frantic now, and Lucy was sure she was probably rushing around after the Doctor, trying to stop him from investigating.

"What? No! No… There's someone else here…" Then Lucy heard footsteps, ones that seemed to reverberate in her sensitive ear drums like the sound of impending doom. If she hadn't been so freaked out, she might have stopped to laugh at how extraordinarily dramatic that thought had been.

It seemed to take the Doctor no time flat to find her hiding spot, and she wondered if the TARDIS hadn't sided with her after all, or if he'd just outsmarted the both of them this time. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut tight when she heard the turn of the doorknob to the room she was so poorly concealed in.

"Lucy!" shouted her father in complete shock and dismay when he'd flung open the door of the closet she was hiding in. She slowly opened one eye, and then the other, peering up at her dad worriedly. "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded, grabbing her elbow and hauling her up to her feet. He dragged her out of the room and down the labyrinth of hallways back to the console room with Rose bobbing around anxiously behind them.

"What are you doing?" demanded the Doctor again once the trio had reached the control room.

The Doctor never got his answer, however, because right when Lucy opened her mouth to speak, she began to cough up blood. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she crumpled dramatically to the control room floor.

"Lucy!" shouted her father frantically. "LUCY!"

**A/N: Shorter chapter this time, but I really wanted to end there. Never fear, I'm already working on the next chapter. Thanks again for everyone who reviews/favorites/alerts, because you're my favoritest people ever. Thanks a ton!**


	6. Chapter 6

"LUCY!" The Doctor shouted, rushing over to where his daughter was lying limply on the floor. Blood was slowly trickling out of her mouth, and there were dark circles under her eyes that he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before then.

"Oh, this is no good whatsoever, it's worse than I thought," lamented the Doctor as Rose stood back, looking pale and nervous.

"Is she going to be alright?" she asked anxiously.

"I don't know yet," he muttered. "Rose, hand me my sonic screwdriver, please." She rushed over and grabbed it carefully from its spot on the console and placed it in his outstretched hand. He scanned across the length of his daughter's supine body, still unconscious, then held it in front of his face to read the results. "Ah yes, much worse than I thought," he mumbled to himself.

"Lucy, can you hear me?" he asked, brushing hair out of her eyes. He sat cross legged on the floor now, supporting her head and upper body in his arms. After a moment she began to stir feebly, groaning from the pain throughout her entire body. She managed to open her eyes after a moment, and said, "Oh, not again."

"Again?" her dad asked sharply. "You mean this has happened before? Why didn't you say anything?" She just smiled mysteriously, looking slightly unhinged, and rolled her head back again, closing her eyes.

Sighing, the Doctor picked up his daughter and deposited her on the seat in front of the console, where she lay limp and unmoving.

"Isn't…isn't there some way to stop the cells from attacking each other, or something?" Rose squeaked.

"The only way I could do that would be to overwrite her genetic code, and turn all the cells either human or Time Lord, and the only way to do that would be…would be to…" A dazed, thoughtful look came across the Doctor's features, and he stopped pacing. "That's it! The Chameleon Arch! Rose, you're a genius!" he exclaimed after a second or two.

"I…didn't really do anything," Rose said weakly. "What's the Chameleon Arch?"

"It's a lovely little device used for basically what I just said…and if I do some tweaking…it ought to work perfectly," he said, rushing around the console frantically, adjusting things on what appeared to be a metal hat suspended from the console with the sonic screwdriver.

"So it's going to—,"

"It's going to change all of her cells to be either human or Time Lord. And then she'll be whichever one it changes it to, fully, one hundred percent," said the Doctor, talking a mile a minute.

"How are you going to choose which one to change them all to?" asked Rose, her head cocked to the side. The Doctor stopped in his tracks.

"I suppose…well, I suppose I'll let her decide," he said quietly, staring solemnly at his daughter's relaxed figure. He went back to tinkering with the device, and a few seconds later he cried, "Voila! It's done! And just in the nick of time, so it seems."

He walked over to where Lucy was laying, and prodded her forehead. She groaned, and shook her head.

"Hey, Lucy, I need you to focus, okay?" Panting slightly, she pushed herself up to a sitting position, and glared reproachfully at he who had dared interrupt her rest. "I found a way to make you better." He stood there beaming.

"How?" Lucy demanded, her eyes wide.

"It's called a Chameleon Arch, it'll rewrite all the cells in your body to one thing. So you can be either a human…or a Time Lord. And I think that you're old enough to make that decision yourself," he said, the last sentence heavy with worry. "And I need you to think hard about this decision, don't just rush into anything. But, uh, don't take too long either," he added as she began to cough violently again.

"I want to be a Time Lord," she said eventually, staring him directly in the eyes.

"Lucy, are you sure? I mean…it's kind of a big deal, and—," he began to warn, but she cut him off.

"I want to be a Time Lord," she repeated with so much force, her father stepped back ever so slightly. He sighed, and looked at her for a long moment.

"Alright, then. If that's what you want…you can be a Time Lord."

She jumped up, squealing, and wrapped her arms around him, her decisive demeanor gone. "When do we start? Where's this Chameleon-whatsit?"

"Over here," her father said, chuckling as he led her over to where the metal hat was dangling. "Now, Lucy…I don't really know a good way to say this, but…well, this is going to hurt a lot. And I'm really sorry. But there isn't anything I can do about it. It takes, oh, maybe a couple of hours to be completely done. I'll be right here the entire time, I promise."

"How bad does it hurt?" she asked anxiously.

"Pretty badly…" the Doctor said, peering worriedly at her.

"Well…it's better than being dead," she opined, trying for brave. The Doctor nearly smiled as he strapped his daughter into the cold metal contraption. She looked so small and scared, standing there attached by metal wires and rods to the TARDIS console, staring at him dubiously.

"Ready when you are," he said, nodding at Lucy.

"I'm ready," she said quietly, her bottom lip trembling. The Doctor began counting down, giving her fair warning, and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and waited for the pain.

She heard the sound of a lever being switched, then a whirring noise, much like a machine starting up. She tentatively opened one eye, and waited for something to happen. Then suddenly the air inside the console room was wrenched apart from her screams, as all at once an excruciating pain flooded through her small body.

* * *

><p>Rose noticed that the Doctor made good on his promise to his daughter; though there were probably plenty of things he could have been doing, he sat in the console room, his head in his hands, staying by Lucy's side until the process was complete. Sometimes he held her hand when she wasn't thrashing around too much from the pain, and Rose could see what each and every one of Lucy's screams was doing to him. Even though the Doctor knew that the only other option was death, she knew he wouldn't forgive himself for this for a long time.<p>

Rose was in the kitchen fixing a sandwich when she heard Lucy's screams stop and the Doctor shout in surprise and delight. She rushed back to the control room to see the Doctor unhooking Lucy from the Chameleon Arch. She fell to her knees, gasping, and the Doctor held out a hand to help her up.

Whether she didn't notice it, or was purposely ignoring the gesture, Rose didn't know, but a moment later Lucy let out another scream, and some strange gold substance exploded from her.

"NO!" shouted the Doctor. "Oh, no, no, no, she's regenerating! This was not supposed to happen!"

* * *

><p>Lucy could hear her father shouting, but she found she didn't much care. She was experiencing a new feeling, not at all like the excruciating pain the Chameleon Arch had put her through. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. She settled on peculiar as the appropriate word right before everything went black.<p>

**A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken such a long time for this, my week just suddenly got really crazy. I like where this is going, though, and I'm quite pleased with this chapter. Please let me know what you guys think! You're all my favorite people right now!**


	7. Chapter 7

_So this is regenerating, _Lucy thought as her consciousness floated somewhere north of solid ground. Things had been hazy for a while, but she was mostly at peace now. Every once in a while, a shooting pain would burst through the peaceful cocoon that had enveloped her, but for the most part, things were still.

But now there was another odd sensation, accompanied by a rushing sound, increasing in volume quickly. A tugging feeling preceded her jolt back to reality, and her eyes snapped open, taking in her surroundings.

It was overwhelming to both become a Time Lord and regenerate in one day; Lucy's new eyes were cataloguing the various attributes of the darkened room along with her other heightened senses. Before she could quite come to terms with things, though, she became aware of both her father's and Rose's faces peering at her from above.

"Lucy?" asked the Doctor. She blinked a couple of times, then attempted to sit up. Her father helped her up, supporting her back.

"Well, that was weird," she muttered, her voice sounding oddly high pitched to her newly sensitive ears.

"Tell me about it," agreed her father.

"You mean that wasn't supposed to happen?" she demanded.

"I'm afraid not," he murmured, peering curiously at her.

"Wait!" she shouted. "If I regenerated, that means I look different, right?"

The Doctor paused. "Yes, you do. Do you want to see?"

"You sound…unhappy. Is it bad?" she asked worriedly, biting her lip. Her father laughed at her, and shook his head.

"No, no, you're as beautiful as ever, it's just…different. Takes some getting used to, you know?" She stuck her tongue out at her father, and he returned the gesture, but she felt some insecurities.

"Is there a mirror, then?" she asked, bringing herself back to the present. Rose produced a hand mirror from somewhere, and Lucy held it up in front of her face. Staring back at her was a girl, maybe seventeen or eighteen, with curly light brown hair and dimples. The only thing that had stayed the same were her large hazel eyes. She was pleased to see that she was perhaps five inches taller, and appeared several years older.

"Well, what do you think?" asked the Doctor hopefully.

"My clothes don't fit me anymore," replied Lucy, her eyes narrowed down at her shirt that was indeed quite strained at the seams.

"Come on, then, I'll show you to the wardrobe," he said, grabbing her hand and leading her down a corridor.

"Lucy, listen…" said her father tentatively.

"Hm?" she muttered absentmindedly from behind a dressing screen.

"You realize we have to go see your mom and explain what happened, right?" he asked, wincing as he finished the question.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, still sounding distracted. She walked out from behind the screen and twirled around, holding out her arms. "What do you think?" she asked, indicating her new clothes. She'd found a sundress, cardigan, and some tights.

"Practical," the Doctor said, snorting and rolling his eyes at his only daughter. "But you heard what I said, missy."

"I don't know what you mean, though," she said, looking at him, puzzled.

"We have to go talk to your mother…" he repeated, looking warily at her.

"Mother?" she asked, looking blankly.

"Lucy, you're scaring me. Why don't you know what I'm talking about?" he asked, panicking.

"I don't have a mother…" she said slowly.

"Lucy! Yes you do! Your mom's name is Michelle, she's marrying a man named Jason, you hate him, and they're going to have a baby…"

"No bloody idea what you're talking about. Is this a joke?" she asked, giving him a strange look.

"What? No! Is _this_ a joke?" he exclaimed furiously. Lucy just looked blankly at him.

"Oh…oh no…oh this is not good, oh what's happened to you?" murmured the Doctor, pacing, his head in his hands. He stopped abruptly in front of her, and looked her straight in the eye. "What's your name?"

"Lucy," she said confidently.

"What's your full name?"

"L-Lucy…" she said softly, stuttering. She thought for a moment, but that was all she could come up with.

"Okay, where are you from?" demanded her father.

She thought for a moment. "Gallifrey?" she asked uncertainly. The Doctor shook his head sadly. She thought more, her lips trembling, her face turning red. Slowly she shook her head. "What's happened to me?" she asked tearfully.

"I don't know, Luce. I think something went wrong with the regeneration…it messed up your memories. The basic stuff is still there, and the Time Lord's shared history…but other parts seemed to have been completely erased from your mind, as if they never existed. I'm so sorry."

"My life sucks!" Lucy wailed, bursting into tears and sinking to the floor in front of the console.

"Well, that bit's still the same then," her dad muttered sarcastically, bending down to haul her up off the floor and into a seat.

"I mean, it's just really unfair! Why's it always me? Why can't anything ever be easy?" she sobbed melodramatically. The Doctor rolled his eyes, still trying to prop her up in the chair.

"That's it, just let it out," he deadpanned, watching her sniffle for a while.

"What's going on?" asked Rose's voice from behind him.

"The regeneration messed up her memories. She can remember some things, but not others. It's so peculiar; I've never heard of anything like it," the Doctor explained quietly.

"Is she going to be alright?" asked Rose, watching Lucy doubtfully.

The Doctor simply shrugged, an anguished expression on his face.

**A/N: It's been a long time, I'm sorry. I got crazy busy, but I'm on winter break now! Yay! Hopefully that means updates and whatnot. Please review! I still love you all!**


	8. Chapter 8

The last thing Lucy remembered was that she was crying. It wasn't uncommon; recently that was happening a lot.

When she woke up again, in a strange bed, her fingers were stiff and her eyes scratchy, but she felt generally better than she had in months. She swung her feet off the bed and stood up, not one time losing her balance.

Yawning, she shook her head once or twice experimentally. It was then that a long, curly tendril of decidedly brunette hair fell into her face. Puzzled, she whirled around to face the mirror.

She let out a blood curdling scream, then quickly clapped her hands to her mouth to stifle it. When the Doctor and Rose frantically burst into her room, she was laughing hysterically.

"Lucy, what's wrong with you?" asked the Doctor, regarding his unhinged offspring warily.

"I forgot what I looked like!" she squealed, still laughing. The Doctor stared at her for a moment, his eyebrows raised, as if trying to figure out what to make of her, then eventually smiled and shook his head, bemused.

* * *

><p>After Lucy was properly dressed and groomed, she wandered out into the console room of the TARDIS. Her father was leaning against the console, talking to Rose. He turned when Lucy entered the room, and looked at her for a moment with—was it remorse?—before speaking.<p>

"We have to go back and tell your mother what's happened. You may not remember her, but that doesn't mean you're not her daughter still. She deserves an explanation, I'm sure she's been worried sick. We can't just run away from the problem."

"Okay," said Lucy, shrugging and taking a seat next to the TARDIS's console. The Doctor opened his mouth, looking puzzled, as if he'd expected her to argue. He shrugged as well, mimicking his daughter, then flipped a few switches and punched some buttons on the console.

The TARDIS sprung into action, swirling through the time vortex before coming to a sudden stop. The trio anxiously opened the door, peering outside and blinking at the unwarranted sunlight. They traipsed through the back yard and up to the sliding glass doors, led by the Doctor. Lucy could see a woman and a man sitting at the kitchen table. They looked up as the three time travelers approached the doors.

The woman stood up, her face wan and pale. She looked like she hadn't slept in years. She half sprinted to the door, pulling it open, and marching up to the Doctor.

"What have you done? Where is she? What have you done with her?" she demanded viciously, shoving the Doctor.

"Oi! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his chest and staring at the small woman in shock.

"Oh, _don't_! You think you can just waltz back in here, like nothing was wrong? Where is she, huh? Where's my daughter?" the woman shouted. From inside came the sound of a baby crying, and the quiet cursing of the man at the table as he stood up and went down the hallway. The Doctor paled, looking horrified.

"Michelle, how long has it been since we last left?" he asked quietly, looking around at the house and the yard.

"Oh, about a bloody year and a half, I'd reckon, as if you don't know!" she spat.

"Oh, Michelle. I am so, so sorry. I never meant for that. The TARDIS messed up, I was aiming for five minutes after we left…" he trailed off, an anguished expression on his face.

"Where. Is. Lucy?" the woman named Michelle asked again, taking a great deal of control to keep her voice measured.

"I'm right here," said Lucy quietly, slipping out from where she'd been hiding behind the Doctor. Michelle took in the sight of her. She was now a good head and shoulders taller than her. She had curly brown hair, and moved uncertainly, like someone who was trying to get used to a new body.

"No. You're not my daughter. Where's Lucy?" said Michelle, turning her back pointedly on the girl. Lucy's face turned bright red, and her hands were shaking.

"I'm right here! Look at me!" shouted Lucy, her temper flaring. Michelle opened her mouth to retaliate, but the Doctor cut her off.

"Look at her eyes, Michelle. They're the same."

Michelle angrily turned towards Lucy now, staring her down. Michelle's face registered shock when she found herself staring into an exact replica of her eyes, ones that she'd known so well for the last fifteen years. Ones that belonged to her daughter.

"No. No! This isn't right! This is a joke or something, she is not my daughter! She's not Lucy," said Michelle, her voice ragged.

"Yes I am!" shouted Lucy. "I'm your daughter! When I was little, you used to sing me to sleep, and when I didn't feel good, we would lay on the couch and you would tell me stories about a man who travelled around in a magic blue box. On Christmas Eve, we'd bake cookies and decorate the tree, and we'd stay up late watching old Christmas movies and waiting for Santa to come. You drove me to ballet lessons three times a week for a year and a half, and then you were perfectly fine with it when I said I wanted to quit. And when I broke my arm when I was seven, we sat around and watched telly and you let me eat ice cream for breakfast and dinner. And I— I remembered something!" she exclaimed with tears in her eyes, looking all at once shocked, pleased, and miserable.

Michelle and Rose both looked a bit teary eyed, and the Doctor looked simply shocked.

"What else can you remember?" he asked quietly.

"I… I dunno. It's all slipping away now, like a dream or something. The more I try to remember it, the quicker it goes away…" she murmured, looking dismayed again.

"Interesting…" muttered the Doctor.

"Lucy, what happened to you?" whispered Michelle, reaching up her hand as if to touch her daughter's face, but stopping short.

"I regenerated," she deadpanned, wiping at her eyes. Michelle then turned to the Doctor, staring at him questioningly.

"Look, can we talk about this inside? It's kind of a long story…" he said, glancing towards the kitchen doors.

**A/N: Wow. It's been a mega long time since I've updated this, and I'm really sorry for that. I've been crazy busy, and now I'm really sick, but I managed to get back on track. I was planning on going a bit farther with this, but then it seemed like a good place to stop. Sort of a cliff hanger. Hopefully it's not just a really abrupt ending, I'm really tired and a bit disoriented. But I hope you guys enjoy, and I ought to be able to update again soon. So yay! Thanks again! I 3 3 you guys!**


	9. Chapter 9

Lucy was playing with her fingernails, ignoring the heated argument that was currently taking place in the kitchen of the house where she used to live.

She chewed on her lip, and sighed, and hummed quietly to herself as accusatory phrases and what sounded like plea-bargains floated past her. She knew she should be paying attention, but for some reason, she was beyond caring.

Maybe it was because she knew her dad would win the argument eventually anyways, that this was just a pretense. Or maybe it was that she knew no matter what that she'd be getting her way. At times like these, she definitely showed signs of being an only child.

It was a moment before she realized that everyone was quiet, now staring at her with various expressions of annoyance, concern, amusement, and consternation.

"Are we boring you?" asked her father dryly.

"Mm, only a little bit," she said sincerely. The Doctor shook his head and repressed laughter.

"What do you want to do, Lucy?" asked Michelle warily; she seemed to have trouble saying her daughter's name, as if it caused her pain to place it with this new face. "Stay here, or go with him?"

Lucy paused, caught over a precipice. It seemed easy; all she had to do was say that she wanted to go with her dad. But in doing so, she knew she would break whatever was left of Michelle's heart.

"I—," she stopped short, unable to continue her thought. She bit her lip, shifted in her seat, fidgeted. She couldn't say what had been on the tip of her tongue for years. It was finally the time to speak out, and she was choking.

The Doctor seemed to sense her discomfort. "Lucy, whatever you have to say, just say it. Don't worry about hurting anyone's feelings. Okay?" Lucy nodded slowly, not looking at him. She took a deep breath.

"I… I want to go with dad," she mumbled, not looking up the entire time. She heard her mother's intake of breath, and glanced up warily. "Mom… I have no life here. You know that as well as I. I didn't really before, and I certainly don't now that I'm not even human. Come on! We'll visit. We will! But don't you see? I have to go. There's nothing left here for me."

Her mother sighed deeply, looking bone tired. She studied her daughter for a moment, saying nothing. Finally, she nodded, looking as if she'd been defeated.

"Will you at least stay here tonight?" she asked in a small voice. Lucy nodded, trying to fight back tears. Lucy bolted from the kitchen table, quick as a flash, and headed upstairs to her old room. She stayed there the rest of the night, ignoring all attempts to coax her out from her hiding place.

"She's having a bit of a rough time of it, isn't she?" muttered Rose to the Doctor after the third time of trying to convince her to come out.

"Adolescence," replied the Doctor, shrugging.

* * *

><p>It was much, much later, nearly two in the morning, when Lucy finally left her old bedroom. She wasn't really quite certain herself why she'd stayed holed up there for so long. She just hadn't felt like dealing with anything for a while.<p>

She got herself a glass of water and leaned against the counter in the kitchen, sipping it and studying her blue toenails. Suddenly, she heard the baby—Charlie—start crying. She froze, waiting a moment, but no one came to help him.

She set the glass in the sink, and tiptoed down the hallway, edging the nursery door open. Charlie had pulled himself up by the bars of the crib, and was standing there, wailing pitifully.

Lucy awkwardly picked him up, and slowly began rocking him back and forth, making what she hoped were reassuring noises. Eventually he quieted, but she continued rocking him.

"Oh, Charlie. We're quite a pair, you and I," she whispered sadly. "I'm your big sister, you know? It's true. Well, sort of. We don't have the same dad—and I don't like yours, or so I'm told—but I'm still your big sister."

She smiled slightly, humming a little. The baby cooed, waving his arms around.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up and not be yourself? To look in the mirror and not see the same person you've seen all your life? And what's worse, to barely be able to remember your old life? Well, I'll tell you, it's the weirdest feeling in the world. Somehow both absolutely heartbreaking and completely liberating at the same time. I could be anyone now! Anyone at all.

"Well, not anyone. I can't be a wife and mother, if I ever wanted to," she laughed bitterly. "I'm not even human anymore."

"But no matter," she said, shaking her head. "Anyways, listening up, kiddo. I'm here for you. I promise. No matter what, no matter where I am in the universe, if you're in trouble, just call me and I'll be here as soon as I can. Don't let your jerk of a father get you down, okay? Oh, and stay out of my room." She smiled sadly. "I always wanted a younger sibling. It's kinda cool. I'm a little sad that I won't be here to see you grow up. But I know you'll be great." She sighed and looked at her brother.

"Well, I see I've bored you back to sleep, so, um…goodnight. I'll…I'll see you around." She gently placed the baby back in his crib.

Sniffling slightly, she hurried back to her own room, not even noticing her dad standing back in the shadows as she passed. He smiled proudly after his offspring. Proudly, yet sadly.

* * *

><p>The next day dawned gray and cold as Lucy said her stilted and dreary goodbyes to her old family, and made her way to the TARDIS with her new one.<p>

"Where to now?" asked Lucy once they were inside, trying not to sound sullen.

"We've got a school to investigate," said the Doctor gleefully, waggling his eyebrows. Lucy laughed slightly, leaning against the console.

"Well, get to it! Allons-y!" she shouted, grinning. The Doctor returned the gesture, and flipped a switch, throwing the TARDIS into motion.

**A/N: Woo. Two updates in three days? Coolness. I'm tired, I'll keep it brief. Enjoy!**


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